How hard is the MCSE?

Just a quick post, mostly for people who have already done/working towards, the MCSE Messaging (Exchange 2013)

I recently passed my MCSA in Windows Server 2012 R2 and am soon going to be starting to upgrade it to MCSE Messaging.

I found the 70-410 and 70-411 pretty difficult but not too difficult (passed both 1st time). However, the 70-412 exam was very hard, and it took me 3 times to pass it. How do the 70-341 and 70-342 compare to this exam?
Are they easier/the same/harder? Can't find much information about these, the only thing I can find is that 70-410 and 70-411 are the lowest level (Beginner) 70-412 and 70-341 are at a similar level (intermediate) and the 70-342 is at a higher level (Advanced)

I thought the same, that not doing the office 365 one would make exchange more difficult. I did the Windows server MCSA as I was asked to at work, now they want exchange MCSE.
I seem to be understanding this content more than I did the 70-12 so hopefully I will be able to pass this one first time.
I don't really have much exchange experience (apart from 5 years of the basic stuff) but I have even less experience with windows server as for the first 3/4 years of my IT career I did mainly desktop support.

I thought the same, that not doing the office 365 one would make exchange more difficult. I did the Windows server MCSA as I was asked to at work, now they want exchange MCSE.
I seem to be understanding this content more than I did the 70-12 so hopefully I will be able to pass this one first time.
I don't really have much exchange experience (apart from 5 years of the basic stuff) but I have even less experience with windows server as for the first 3/4 years of my IT career I did mainly desktop support.

IMO the main difficulty is labbing which really is essential to help pass an exam, so for example i can't do much for UM which is a big part of 342.

I'm hoping to get my lab environment set up soon for the 70-341. I'm just watching all of the CBT nuggets videos first and taking notes, then I'll get it set up. The main issue I am trying to get around is using multiple subnets to try and simulate having multiple sites, I only have a sky router so I believe I will need to add entries to the routing tables on each server before I can do this.
Also I don't have my domain registered so cannot test external emails if I'm correct? Please advise how it is done if I am wrong.

I'm hoping to get my lab environment set up soon for the 70-341. I'm just watching all of the CBT nuggets videos first and taking notes, then I'll get it set up. The main issue I am trying to get around is using multiple subnets to try and simulate having multiple sites, I only have a sky router so I believe I will need to add entries to the routing tables on each server before I can do this.
Also I don't have my domain registered so cannot test external emails if I'm correct? Please advise how it is done if I am wrong.

Found that you can actually use just a 24 bit subnet but within AD sites and services you can create multiple subnets within the 24 bit subnet (so in mine a have multiple 28 bit subnets so that the servers think they are in different subnets)

If not move it to a couple of weeks earlier then you can take advantage of the 2nd shot (if you need it !) before the offer ends which I think is 15/1/16/

It's my first try, but I have had confirmation from Microsoft that I will still qualify for the second shot.. 12th is the last day of the offer so if I do fail I have until the end of that day to book it, and will have 30 days to take the second shot. So even though the offer has finished I can still take it at the start of February

342 is a bit of a beast, even for a seasoned Exchange pro, I think the big items that can be a hang up for those with practical experience are UM and IRM as those features are not commonly used out there in the wild.

342 is a bit of a beast, even for a seasoned Exchange pro, I think the big items that can be a hang up for those with practical experience are UM and IRM as those features are not commonly used out there in the wild.

Passed the 70-341 a couple of weeks ago, surprisingly I got my highest ever score on a Microsoft exam (865), all of my others I go 7 something! Maybe I got a bit lucky with the questions, or I might just understand Exchange better than Windows Server.
Just starting to prepare for this 'beast'!

Anyone have tips for me? I'm planning to take the 70-342 exam in 15 days, could anyone please give me some useful tips about the topics that i really need to focus on this exam?
Thanks!

The best advice I can give is to lab every topic!

The only problem you might have is unified messaging, you can't really lab this fully without having a phone system/lync to work with. It's still useful to go through all of the different screens as if you were setting it up so that you know where everything is and what it all does.

TechNet has some useful information about exchange, you should be able to study all of the topics on there as well.

Hi Joeswfc, thanks!
I did some Exam Preps from Measureup and Transcender, take notes and also trying to really keep all CMDLETs and parameters for UM, DAGS, Retention Policies and IRM. Do you have any other tips for me? For example, which topics do you think that comprehends the most part of the exam? Also, DLP is covered using the GUI or SHELL? Thanks in advice!